


Drive Away With Me

by TeapotFiction



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 18:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12776406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeapotFiction/pseuds/TeapotFiction
Summary: S2 E06.This is my version of what happened between Betty and Jughead getting in the car, and them ending up at his trailer at the end of the episode.Hope you like it!





	Drive Away With Me

Betty sat in the passenger seat as Jughead sped off. What had she done? Did he even want her here? Getting in the car had seemed like the right thing to do; but now she was here, she didn’t know what to say to him.

His hand gripped around the steering wheel and he stared straight ahead; his anger pulsing through him. But anger at what? Archie? Her? The Ghoulies? Everything?

There was a time where she’d have known, instinctively, what was upsetting him. But not now. A few weeks and a lifetime of experiences had changed their relationship forever. She knew that. But she had to try.

‘Jug…’ she started, and then words failed her. 

‘Where to Betty?’ The ball was in her court. She wet her lips before speaking. 

‘Just keep driving. Let’s get out of Riverdale.’ 

For a split second, he looked sideways at her and she thought she saw his mouth twitch. The moment passed so quickly she wasn’t sure if it was real. 

‘As you wish, Cooper.’ He pressed hard on the accelerator. Both hands still on the wheel, face determinedly looking forward. His shoulders rose and fell in a regular rhythm as he took deep breaths, trying to control himself. Betty ached to lean across and touch his arm, his leg - anything - to calm him, to reassure him. 

But she didn’t think that was her place right now. Not now. Not if he had someone else to be that person for him now. 

She knew she had no place feeling it, she’d been the one to break up with him after all, but she was hurt too.

She pushed that from her mind and tried to speak again. 

‘Juggie…’ she started. ‘I know you’re angry -’

‘Why did you say it?’ he cut off her off. ‘Before I got in the car, why did you say… what you said?’

‘What?’

‘Did you mean it? Or did you just say it so I wouldn’t do anything stupid during the race? So I’d come back.’

‘What? Jug? I wouldn’t.’

‘You would Betty, I know you. And more to the point, you know me. You’d do anything to protect people - including lie. So tell me, why did you say it?’

‘Because it’s true.’ she said, simply. ‘And I wanted you to know. I didn’t know what was going to happen after the race - I still don’t. And I couldn’t let you go on thinking that I didn’t love you. Because I do. I never stopped.’

Jughead hardened his jaw and he gripped tightly onto the steering wheel.  Betty glanced at him, but he didn’t react. ‘I’m sorry Jughead. I never wanted to hurt you. And I want to explain if you’ll let me. I know it’s too late but…’

‘Okay then, explain.’ his reply was a monotone. 

Betty shook her head. Jughead noticed and rolled his eyes. ‘Of course.’

‘No, I will explain. Just… Once we’re past the boundary.’ 

‘Enigma.’ he muttered but drove on. They sat in uncomfortable silence.

Eventually Jughead swallowed hard as he took a turn towards the highway. ‘I wish I could hate you. Or not even that. Just not be in lo- whatever.  It might make things easier.’

Betty blinked away the tears that sprung to her eyes at his harsh words. Any faint hope she still had fading. 

‘I’m sorry Jug. All I wanted to do was protect you. But I shouldn’t have sent Archie. I should have talked to you instead. I should have…’ the words tumbled out because she couldn’t bear the silence anymore. They were on the highway now, the Welcome To Riverdale sign disappearing in the rear view mirror. 

‘Yeah. You should have done. It hurt, Betty. It hurt so much.’ 

‘I wish I could take it back.’ she whispered. ‘I wish we had just run away. Left the town behind us.’

‘Like we’re doing now?’ Jughead raised an eyebrow. 

‘Almost.’ she replied, softly. 

He turned off the motorway, and followed the road, not knowing where he was going. Silence ensued again. Betty almost told him he was grinding the gears too much - just so that she had a reason to speak, but she decided against it. The terseness, the not quite speaking, was so much worse than the silence. She sat on her hands to stop her from balling them up into fists - or worse, reaching over to him.

‘There’s a diner over there?’ she suggested, spotting some neon lights.

‘I don’t want to eat with you.’ came his response, but he pulled up into the parking lot anyway. 

‘I understand that.’ She unclipped her seatbelt and turned to face him. He did the same but continued staring ahead, not ready to look her in the eye. 

‘I never stopped loving you Jug. You’ve got to believe me. That’s why I had to send Archie because… I knew you’d see right through it if I tried to do it. But I should start at the beginning.’ She paused to re-compose her features. Tears were far too close, but she had to get through it.

‘The Black Hood phoned me.’ Jughead’s head whipped around and he stared at her in horror. ‘Several times. He said that if I was loyal to him and did what he asked then no one would get hurt anymore.’

‘What did he ask?’ When Jughead spoke this time, his tone had changed. It was softer, and it looked like he was trying to connect the dots.

‘He made me publish the article about my mom. And he said I had to separate myself from Veronica - and -’

‘Betty, I saw you after you published that article, why did you tell me?’

‘Why didn’t you tell me about the Serpents?’ she countered. ‘I know I shouldn’t have kept it from you, but I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets, Jug.’

‘I didn’t want you to worry.’ 

Betty pulled a face. ‘Ditto.’ She sighed. ‘The Black Hood told me I had to end it with you. He said if I didn’t cut you out of my life, he’d do it for me. And I couldn’t take that risk. I knew I had to do it in a way that meant you wouldn’t want to see me again. That’s why…. Because if I’d done it via text you’d have shown up at my door and that would have been too dangerous, Juggie. He’d have seen you. He’d have hurt you. He’d have hurt others.’

Jughead shook his head. ‘Hence the desire to be out of Riverdale. You really couldn’t think of any other way Betts? You couldn’t just text me? You couldn’t give me a call? Explain? Let me help you come up with a plan with you?’

‘Like you were doing with me, you mean?’ Jughead flinched. Betty hadn’t meant it to come out so sharp and regretted it instantly. ‘No. I couldn’t.’

‘What - was he tracking your phone or something?’ He snarked back at her.

‘Yeah, I think he was, actually.’ she said in a very small voice. ‘He was watching me. You don’t understand Juggie. He knows everything about me. He knows how I work, he knows what I’ve been doing, he’s not just watching me, he’s - I don’t even know what the word is - it was like he was ten steps ahead of me all the time. He’d have known if I’d tried to send you a message. Don’t you see?’

‘Betty’ Jughead groaned. 

‘I’d hoped we could walk it back.’ She admitted, realising how stupid the words sounded now, in light of everything. 

‘And has he left you alone now, since you did everything he asked?’ 

A tear fell down Betty’s cheek as she shook her head once. ‘No’. 

‘Betty? What happened?’ 

She shook her head. She didn’t want to remember this bit. 

‘Tell me Betty. Tell me.’ 

‘He promised - He promised to tell me who he was. So, that night, after everything had happened, I went to meet him. He told me to go to this abandoned house about a mile away.’

‘You’re serious? You went to meet that - that - psychopath? A psychopath who is obsessed with you? In the middle of the night at an abandoned house? What were you thinking?’ Jughead almost shouted at her, his eyes flicked between hers and he shifted closer towards her. ‘Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Have you never seen a scary movie - ever? It literally never goes well for the blonde girl going out at night. Have you any idea what it’d have done to your parents? To Archie? To Veronica? To me? If something had happened to you? Why would you do that Betty?’

She looked at her lap, startled by his violent reaction. Tears fell down her face, landing on her legs. 

‘I didn’t care about myself.’ she spoke quietly. ‘I just wanted - needed - his games to be over. I thought that whatever happened to me, I’d have enough time to tell someone - to reveal his name so that other people would be safe.’ 

She looked up when she felt Jughead’s hand on her shoulder. His fingers grasped hold of her, squeezing her as if he was scared she was about to run away from him. 

‘Promise me Betty, promise me, that you’ll never put yourself in danger like that again. Anything could have happened.’ He croaked, with a very strange look in his eyes. 

‘He wasn’t there when I got there.’ Betty sniffed. ‘But there was a box, with a mask in it - like his. He made me put it on and look in the mirror.’ she paused. ‘He said we were the same.’

‘No. Betty you’re nothing like him.’

‘I am.’ She cried. ‘I am. He asked me to give him a name or he’d hurt Polly. And I did.’ Her face crumbled. Jughead leaned in towards her, moving his hand from her shoulder to cup her face instead. Betty leaned into it, welcoming the comfort it brought. She allowed herself a moment to imagine that it was all going to be okay. 

‘Betty. Listen to me. You are not the same as the Black Hood. You’re good. You don’t hurt people.’

‘I hurt you. And my mom. And Veronica.’

‘Because he made you.’ Jughead reached across with his other hand to hold her face, making her look up at him. ‘You are a good person, Betty Cooper.’

Their faces were so close now, she could almost feel him breathing. She wanted to much to lean into his mouth, to kiss him and say she loved him. It should have been the most natural thing in the world. 

Jughead hesitated. He was so close to kissing her. To telling her that none of it mattered. But he stopped himself, just in time. Instead, he leant his forehead on hers. He swallowed hard, and then leaned back. Dropping his hands to his side, he twisted his mouth before speaking.

‘I should have told you about the Serpents.’

Betty nodded. ‘Why didn’t you?’ 

He sighed. ‘I was scared if I told you I’d lose you.’ He laughed once. ‘Should have realised that would backfire on me. I knew you didn’t approve, and honestly, I guess I knew it was a stupid idea. I didn’t want you to worry.’

‘Jug.’ Her voice was so sad.

‘You’d have tried to stop me, and I didn’t want to be stopped. I did it to keep you safe. You, Archie, Veronica… Even your parents. Toni told me that my dad was the peacekeeper. Without him they were - it doesn’t matter what they were going to do - but it wouldn’t have been good. I thought I could stop that happening.’

‘You could have told me this.’

‘Could I? You’d have let me stick my hand in a snake’s cage and run the gauntlet?’ He replied, sardonically.

‘The gauntlet?’

Jughead gestured to his face. ‘Let’s just say, it’s probably best that you didn’t see me the day after.’

Now it was Betty’s turn to touch his face, her fingers lightly skimming over the cuts and bruises that had faded, but were still all too visible. ‘What did they do to you Jug?’

‘It’s a stupid initiation thing. It’s in the past.’ He smiled at her, sadly. ‘What a mess.’ 

‘A complete mess.’ Betty twisted her mouth. ‘When did we stop communicating?’

‘I don’t know.’ He replied, truthfully and Betty could hear the sadness in his tone. 

‘Is it too late?’ She wondered out loud before she could stop herself. She was too exhausted to play games any more. Even if it hurt, she needed to know the truth. 

Jughead’s face dropped. He shut his eyes and pulled a face which almost wincing before he leaned back into his seat and away from Betty. Her hand, no longer touching his face, hovered in mid air for a minute before she gathered control of herself and adjusted her position. She sat up straight, hands in her lap, face down - in her brace position for the upcoming impact. 

Nothing could be as bad as the first time, she tried to tell herself. At least this time she was with him. Talking to him herself. Able to tell him everything she wanted to. Even if the ending didn’t go her way. 

Jughead, still with his eyes shut, eventually spoke. His voice was hoarse. ‘There’s something else I need to tell you.’ 

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Betty couldn’t speak, her heart raced, anxiety flooded through her body. It seemed like a century before Jughead spoke again. He sounded apologetic.

‘I kissed Toni.’ 

Oh. 

Of course, she’d seen them in Pop’s together laughing and smiling. But she’d assumed, naively that that was just the very start. A moment when he’d realised that maybe there was a spark between them. And that had broken her heart because she couldn’t be angry. She loved him, but he didn’t know her plan. She wanted him to be happy above all else. It’s broken her heart because it meant he’d given up hope for them, and he was beginning his search for something else. She’d never anticipated it would take such a short amount of time. With her, it’d been months in between him realising he wanted her and actually striking up the courage. They’d only been apart a week. How could he have moved on so quickly? 

She realised he was staring at her and she had to think of something to say. How could she possibly find the words? Her fists balled up until she felt the prick of nail against skin. She didn’t apply the pressure yet. She was just ready. His eyes flicked down as he noticed what she was doing. He opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it.

‘When?’ Was all she could manage, when what she wanted to say was ‘how could you not know I still loved you?’ Or ‘can’t you see my heart is breaking all over again?’. But she knew that it wouldn’t be fair to say either of those things so she held her tongue.

‘Later on that night. After Archie came by. After the Gauntlet.’ 

Betty felt sick. That soon? She could never imagine kissing anyone else and yet Jughead could? That thought hit her hard, like someone had punched her and winded her. All her certainties disappeared.

Jughead looked away and hit the steering wheel once with his palm. ‘Goddammit Betty.’ He stared ahead. Then he turned back to her suddenly.

‘It didn’t mean anything. You’ve got to believe me. I was hurt and alone. It’s no excuse but I thought my best friend and my girlfriend wanted nothing to do with me. I was joining the gang who had just beaten me to a pulp and I wasn’t sure if it was worth it anymore. Toni was just  _ there _ . So when she made it clear she was into it …. I …’

‘Was it just a kiss?’ 

Jughead shook his head.

‘You slept with her?’ Betty’s face was calm, assuming the mask she’d worn with everyone else apart from Jughead for as long as she could remember. Only her eyes revealed her true sadness. She didn’t even want to hear the answer. She felt compelled to ask; to get all the hurt out of the way in one go.

‘No. I didn’t sleep with her. But there was more than kissing. I -’

‘I don’t want the details Jug.’ She twisted her mouth, cutting him off before she heard too much.

‘It didn’t mean anything Betty. I promise you. The entire time it felt wrong because it wasn’t you. I wish I hadn’t done it. I’m so sorry.’

‘You don’t have to be sorry. We were broken up.’ 

‘But it hurt you, and that’s the last thing I ever wanted.’

Betty bit her lip and nodded once, her eyes wide. 

‘Okay.’ 

Her hands tightened and her nails started to dig into her palms as she searched for something, anything to say. Jughead reached across and gently took her hands in his to stop her from hurting herself. To try and show her… he wasn’t sure what. But something. To show her that despite everything he was still here for her. 

‘Betty Cooper. I love you. And just like you said, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to stop loving you.’ 

Tenderly, he pulled up her hands one at a time, and laid a soft kiss on each of them. It reminded Betty of that time in Pop’s when she’d revealed everything to him, and, without words, he’d showed her that it was going to be okay. And just like then, she leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. He let out a deep breath and put his arms around her, closing the distance as best that he could given how the being in the car restricted their movements. He kissed the top of her head, and felt as the tension started to flow out of her body. 

Betty breathed him in. There was an unfamiliar scent of leather, but under that this was still the Jughead she knew. She wished she could stay there, in this moment, away from the realities of Riverdale, the Black Hood and the Serpents, forever. But she knew there was still something that she had to do. They couldn’t really run away. They needed to go back home and face up to the mess that Riverdale was descending into.

So, sooner than she’d have liked to, she found herself pulling back from him. Lightly, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered. ‘We need to go back.’

‘No we don’t.’ He replied lazily, and something approaching a smile flickered on his lips.

‘We do Juggie. I’ve got one more thing to do and then I think I can be free of the Black Hood.’ 

Jughead tensed up immediately. ‘No Betty, you’re not talking to him ever again. It’s far too dangerous.’

Betty smiled, confidently. ‘It’s okay, Jug. He wants something from me and once I’ve got that, I can turn the game around on him. I promise.’

‘What does he want?’ Jughead wasn’t so sure.

‘Drive me to Pop’s? I’ll explain on the way.’

 

It’d been hours since Jughead had dropped Betty off near Pop’s. She’d insisted that he didn’t take her to the door. She’d said that she needed the Black Hood to see her. He’d not liked that part of her plan one bit. He didn’t like any part of the plan, truth be told. But Betty was insistent. And he trusted her. 

He just couldn’t think of what would happen if anything went wrong. 

He’d been pacing around the trailer since he’d got home, after dropping the car back to Reggie and apologising for the added scratches on it. Reggie had been cool though. Archie had obviously done the groundwork for him there. 

It’d been a longer walk than he’d remembered it being to get back to Sunnyside Trailer Park. It left him too much time to think. To count his mistakes. To curse himself for everything he’d done. 

But, by some miracle, it seemed that Betty might be able to get past that. And if she could get past that, he could get past what she did.

Hell, who was he kidding? He’d been past that the second she’d told him it was because of the Black Hood. How could he be otherwise?

He ached to see her again. He needed to know she was okay and her plan had worked. He checked his phone anxiously every minute, but the only texts on there were from Toni.

**T: Saw your girl getting in the car….Knew you’d never be able to stay away from the Northside ;)**

He didn’t respond. What was there to say to her right now?

He checked the time again. 9pm. Not late by any stretch of the imagination, but with Betty’s curfew being 10, the chance of him seeing her again today was slipping through his fingers. He texted her, again. Not caring about the three identical messages he’d already sent.

**J: Are you okay? Call me when you can. Please**

He put his phone down on the arm of the sofa and poured himself a cup of coffee. Anything, anything to keep himself occupied, 

A small bleep told him he had a message.

**B: Open the door.**

He read it twice, his brow furrowed. Then he put down his coffee and opened the door to the trailer. 

There she was, slightly out of breath and mud splashed at the bottom of her jeans from where she’d been running. But she was smiling, and it was the most beautiful sight in the world

She crashed into him, flinging her arms around his neck, pulling him as close as she could. 

‘It’s okay Jug. It’s okay. The game is over. It’s okay.’ 

He shut the trailer door and maneuvered them into the living room, settling her down on the sofa. 

‘You’re okay?’ his hands reached out to cup her face. 

‘Yes.’ she breathed. ‘It’s over. It’s finally over.’ She paused and looked at him with those bright green eyes of hers. ‘Jug… I... ‘

Very slowly, Jughead leant forward. He scanned her eyes for a reaction, pausing slightly before their lips made contact. And then Betty leaned forward into him and he knew she was okay. It was all okay. 

They kissed, softly at first and then more hungrily as they made up for lost time. In each other’s arms they rediscovered each other all over again. Jughead’s tongue slid into Betty’s mouth as the desire to be close overtook them. He cupped her head tightly, and she pulled her arms around him, hugging him so tightly. 

Jughead felt his body stir, and broke the kiss. ‘We should slow it down.’ he said, reluctantly. Betty pursed her lips but agreed. They pulled back from each other and readjusted their position. Now they were side by side, with Betty tucked under his arm.

‘Can I stay tonight?’ She was a little shy in asking. ‘I just, I don’t want us to be apart any more.’

Jughead smiled. ‘Of course. As long as you promise your mother isn’t going to come round here and demand my head on a pole.’

Betty laughed once. ‘We’ve come to an understanding.’ She curled her arms around him. ‘I love you Juggie. I just want to be where you are.’

‘I’ll always be where you are Betty.’ He kissed the top of her head.

For the first time in weeks, both teenagers breathed easily, and allowed themselves to hope that finally, it was going to be okay. 

  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
